Staying Safe and Happy

Children and young people in Hertfordshire can now get free online emotional and mental health support using a website called Kooth.com. If they are aged between 10 and 25 and registered with a Hertfordshire GP surgery, they can sign up, choose an avatar (an online character) to represent them anonymously and have an online chat with a counsellor or therapist. The counsellor or therapist can help with lots of different problems, including family problems, eating disorders, loneliness, bullying, anxiety and depression.

Kooth’s counsellors and therapists are available until 10pm, 365 days a year. Users can talk to other young people anonymously on the forums whenever they like, and keep an online journal.

Users can subscribe to Kooth.com to read its online magazine and can also use Kooth to set goals with their online counsellor or therapist and keep a record of how they are doing. Schools are being offered free training to encourage pupils to use Kooth.com.

Groups of young people in Hertfordshire have tested Kooth using trial accounts, and they felt that online counselling would be really useful for children and young people.

To sign up with Kooth go to www.kooth.com and enter a user name and password. None of the other young people who use Kooth will be able to see this so users can stay safe and anonymous. Visit Kooth.com for more information.

Meryfield Community Primary school is a business name of Herts for Learning Multi Academy Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under company registration number 10290954 at registered address Robertson House SROB218, Six Hills Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, SG1 2FQ.